Walk down Julius Nyerere Way, through Copacabana, or past the Simon Muzenda (more commonly known as Fourth) Street bus terminus, and one thing becomes painfully clear—Harare is no longer the Sunshine City it once proudly was.
Piles of uncollected garbage line the streets, turning pavements into dumping grounds. Acrid smells of urine waft from alleyways, while gutters and open spaces double as toilets for the desperate and the indifferent alike.
Despite the newly contracted refuse collector's efforts, what should be a city of beauty has instead become a portrait of neglect, both institutional and personal.
It is easy to blame the City Council, and indeed, it deserves its fair share of the blame. The failure to collect refuse consistently, the lack of functioning public toilets, and the near absence of enforcement of city bylaws all point to a broken system.
But Harare’s filth cannot be explained away by governance failures alone. The people themselves—the residents, the commuters, the vendors, the drivers—have become complicit in this rot.
Trash heaps don’t sprout from the earth; they are deposited by individuals who casually toss litter from kombi windows or sweep rubbish from tuckshops onto the road.
Public urination is not just a sign of inadequate facilities but also of indifference to self-respect and the dignity of others.
Open defecation, shocking as it is, happens because people no longer see the city as their collective home. It is a form of resignation, a statement that “this place is not mine to care for.”
And therein lies the tragedy. A city is a mirror of its citizens. When its streets are filthy, it reflects not just poor leadership but also a population that has surrendered its sense of worth.
Harare’s decay is physical, yes, but it is also psychological. The dirt reveals a society that has grown accustomed to indignity, where survival trumps pride, and where the instinct to keep one’s surroundings clean has been dulled by years of neglect.
Restoring Harare is not just about garbage trucks and toilets—it is about rekindling a civic consciousness. Citizens must reclaim their city, not as passive victims of failed authorities, but as active custodians of public space.
If people respected themselves more, they would treat the pavements, bus ranks, and parks differently. Dignity is contagious, and so is neglect.
For Harare to shine again, we need both leadership and citizens to rediscover pride in place. Until then, the capital will remain a reflection of a nation at odds with itself—where trash, urine, and indignity litter not just the streets but also the collective conscience.
Simbarashe Namusi is a peace, leadership, and governance scholar as well as a media expert. He writes in his personal capacity.
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